


'How To Fall In Love' A Guide by Mathias Shaw

by BoilingHeart



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: M/M, mathias coming to terms with it tho!, mathias slowly falling in love with flynn and hating every second of it, not actually a real guide but more just a walkthrough in how mathias figures out he has Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28750422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoilingHeart/pseuds/BoilingHeart
Summary: 'How To Fall In Love' — an easy guide complete with nine steps by Spymaster Shaw in the art of romance, specifically, pertaining to one Captain Flynn Fairwind.Step 1: Don't.
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw
Comments: 9
Kudos: 61





	'How To Fall In Love' A Guide by Mathias Shaw

There is no room for love, for romance, for personal attachments of any sort in this line of work. Mathias Shaw loves no one, knows no one, and in turn, no one knows him. These keep him free, unburdened, and overall, safer — weaknesses like these attachments can be used against him, and without them, there is less ammo in an enemy’s arsenal.

He is safer this way.

Mathias Shaw makes no conversation. He is not here for your friendship, for your companionship, your kinship, he is not here for your company or stories,  _ he is not here to be your friend. _ He is the blade of Stormwind, he is the Spymaster, the king of secrets, lord of lies, rogue prodigy, eyes of the King — his company is an ill omen. The SI:7 are not meant to be  _ seen _ — Shaw’s very presence in the daylight alone aboard  _ Wind’s Redemption _ makes sailor and soldier alike uneasy. An SI:7 agent is here to accomplish a bloody task, and you breathe not a word. Mathias Shaw is not your friend.

The first time Captain Flynn Fairwind saunters aboard the  _ Wind’s _ and makes a beeline for the Spymaster, the hackles on every soldier in the vicinity raises, anticipating the fury that comes when one  _ dares _ approach the Spymaster without appointment or reason. Fairwind bid his hello, offered some remark of a compliment, prodded at Shaw’s resting scowl, and when Shaw’s attempts at simply ignoring the man proved futile, he’s forced to finally look up and  _ acknowledge _ the man before him.

The Captain is tall, rugged, broad-shouldered, blue eyes complementing clear skies and blue seas around them, sporting a charming, winning smile, long rust-red hair fluttering in the wind in its ponytail — for a moment there, Shaw had almost forgotten his frustration, taken aback by what was certainly a  _ beautiful man. _

“Ah! So he  _ isn’t _ a statue after all!” Flynn remarks, and Shaw remembers why he was upset.

Many of their interactions wound up this way, yet, no matter how many times Shaw intended to ignore him, Flynn simply  _ kept showing up. _ Hellbent on befriending the Spymaster.

Mathias Shaw has no friends for a reason.

Eventually, the crew on the  _ Wind’s _ came to expect Fairwind’s presence aboard when he returned from various expeditions, many heads often turning towards Shaw the moment anyone caught sight of that brown coat and fluttering ponytail. The worst part, Shaw felt, were the days when the  _ Middenwake _ was delayed for some manner of reason, when Fairwind did not return at those scheduled days and times, and his absence was keenly felt. Whether anyone else felt the same way, that emptiness, that quiet, that absence of jubilant energy and fanciful storytelling, he did not know, and remedy of this discomfort was only in the form of the man’s return.

But he is not his friend, mind you.

It’s a few hours past midnight one night, when the  _ Middenwake _ arrives home late from their ventures. Wyrmbane and the others had all packed up for the night, seldom any soldiers or sailors roaming the deck of the  _ Wind’s _ — but the moment Shaw spies movement of the neighboring ship docking through his porthole, he finds himself getting out of bed and on deck. Mind you, he does not do this out of excitement, but rather, out of obligation, to allow routine to take place, to give Fairwind that chance to board this ship and say hello regardless of the hour. They’d been at it so long, Shaw would hate to break the pattern.

Mind you, this is not out of anything else.

But Flynn doesn’t board right away. Shaw kills the time, flips through the mission table, paces, and decides eventually that he is too tired, and perhaps, the Captain is as well, having sailed for so long and returning so late. Of course the Captain wouldn’t visit, not at this hour — what reason would he have to?

Strange, how he’d felt disappointed.

But it’s not out of anything, mind you.

The following day, Flynn saunters aboard, and though his bright, cheery demeanor is the same, his arm is in a sling, and Shaw finds himself bothered by it. Flynn approaches, and Shaw by now no longer bristles at his approach.

“Ahoy, Spymaster!” The Captain greets, and Shaw offers him his usual grunt, but there’s something decidedly different about the way Flynn smiles at him, and he’s not sure he likes what it could potentially mean. Flynn leans forward, blue eyes looking over him once before he speaks, in an uncharacteristically lowered voice: “Were you waiting for me to get back last night? Could’ve sworn I saw a little redhead walking about at a horrendous hour.”

Shaw looks at him, and notices the purple bruises that line the side of the Captain’s jaw, and he wants to hear the story behind it. “Your boat is loud. Your crew woke me up.”

Flynn laughs and claps Shaw’s shoulder, and he finds that he doesn’t flinch at the contact, nor does he find the urge to run a blade through the Captain for such an action. “My sincerest apologies, Spymaster, but you simply wouldn’t  _ believe _ what we went through!”

Flynn Fairwind is not his friend, mind you, but he is good company. Shaw does not make friends. He does not converse, he does not willingly engage, he does not take the time to listen to stories and tall tales or ask questions relating to such adventures, he does not take interest in the well being of others, he does not concern himself with the safety of other individuals unless it is per mission, see, you see, Mathias Shaw is not a friendly man.

Flynn Fairwind, though kind, though beautiful, is just some Kul Tiran.


End file.
